Discharge means for cookers



y 1951 R. T. ANDERSON 2,554,082

DISCHARGE MEANS FOR COOKERS Filed Feb. 20; 1948 r I U a .0 [2 N I a 8 aD ,J a (a m 9 l I l N INVENTOR RAYMOND T. ANDERSON M 71 M mm.

ATTORNEYS Patented May 22, 1 951 DISCHARGE MEANS FOR COOKERS Raymond T.Anderson, Lakewood, Ohio, assignor to The V. D. Anderson Company,Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 20, 1948,Serial No. 9,874 1 Claim. (01. 23-2905) This invention relates todischarge valves for continuous cookers, such as are used for cooking,toasting or otherwise treating or preparing meal or other fibrousproteinaceous material, such as cottonseed, flaxseed or other vegetableseeds, or copra, nuts, or the like. The invention has more particularrelation to cookers or vessels in which is treated meal from which theoil has been extracted by means of a volatile solvent, such as hexane.Such meal, after recovery of most of the solvent therefrom, is cooked ortoasted in a closed container under pressure, either air or steampressure, is withdrawn from the container, and after the gases, such assolvent, air and steam have been permitted to expand or escape, is driedand made available for use as an ingredient of stock feed or the like.

The present invention has for its object to provide improved dischargevalve means for such a cooker, enabling the process to be carried oncontinuously, at the desired pressure, without liability of losing theclosing plug by sudden expansion of the gases.

Another object is to provide improved discharge valve mechanism for acooker of the kind described in which the meal itself is used as aclosing plug for sealing the container, but is so manipulated as topermit the gases to expand only gradually or progressively, and not byexplosive spurts, such as might relieve or reduce the cooking pressure.

Still another object is to, provide improved discharge valve mechanismof the character described embodying separated worm flights in a barrelhaving a preliminary imperforate portion,

in which a more or less solid closing plug is' formed, and a finalperforate portion, through the openings in which the gases are permittedto escape gradually while still retaining or holding back the fibrousmaterial against loss or escape. H

Further objects of the invention in part are obvious and in part willappear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, which represent one suitable embodiment of theinvention, the view is a front elevation, with parts broken away and insection to show interior construction.

The cooker itself may be designed with any suitable form andproportions. It is shown as consisting of an elongated cylindrical drumor vessel l0, say five feet in diameter and twentyfour feet long,provided with the usual external jacket to form a steam heating space Hthrough which heating steam may be circulated as is z usual. Within thechamber I! of the vessel is a rotatable agitating shaft I3, arms onwhich support inclined agitating and material moving vanes, of the usualform. Steam for heating or cooking the material by direct contact may besupplied to chamber l2 in any suitable manner, either by way of moisturecontained in or added to the material itself, or by way of pipe I4 hav-.

ing a suitable pressure reducing or' regulating valve or valves l5, tomaintain within said chamber any desired steam pressure, say 10 to 30pounds.

The material to be treated may be of any kind, but here may be assumedto be a vegetable meal remaining after extraction of the oil therefromwitha volatile solvent, say hexane, and the recovery of solvent from themeal. Solvent recovery should be, and usually is, complete, although attimes some trace of solvent may remain. The extracted meal is fedcontinuously to the cooker through a suitable screw type feeder IS withseparated worm flights, similar to that used at the inlet to the uppercooker in my Patent No. 2,269,898, granted January 13, 1942 forTreatment of Oleaginous Material, to which reference may be had ifdesirable or necessary.

The inlet to the cooker is at one end, (the left in the drawing) and theagitator vanes advance the material slowly toward the other end, wherethe outlet I1 is located. This communicates with the outlet valvemechanism of the present invention.

This comprises a cylindrical barrel 29, of appreciable length, thepreliminary or advance approximately half portion 2| of which isimperforate, while the final or remaining portion 22 of the barrel ismade perforate in any suitable manner, such as by perforating thecylindrical Wall itself or forming such wall of bars with narrow slotsbetween them in the well-known manner. Within said barrel is mounted ashaft 23 provided with means for rotating it, such as a sprocket wheel24 external to the barrel. Shaft 23 carries a series of separate formflights 25, several in each portion or section of the barrel. The shaftmay increase in diameter toward the discharge end, the larger portion23a increasing the pressure and reducing the thickness of the layer ofmaterial being advanced and assisting in release of gases therefrom.Into the spaces between separate or successive worm flights extend theusual knives or stops 26, to prevent rotation of the meal en masse. Atthe outer or discharge end of the barrel is a suitable adjustable choke,shown conventionally as the cooking chamber, or if no steam is suppliedthe moisture in the material becomes steam, as the result of the heatedjacket, so that in either case the material is subjected to both heatand pressure while traversing the chamber.

No difliculty is experienced in the way of possible loss of pressurethrough the inlet valve mechanism which, as soon as it is fully inoperation forms and maintains a substantially solid plug of the fibrousmaterial and continuously urges it forward against the pressure withinthe container.

At the discharge end of the container, the valve mechanism of thepresent invention also prevents loss or reduction of pressure. Here thefibrous material first enters and fills the imperforate portion of thebarrel. Beyond that it fills the perforate portion, being yieldably heldback or restrained by the adjustable yielding choke. When the dischargevalve is filled, the solid plug thus formed permits no expansion orrelease of the gases, such as steam, solvent or air, within the meal,until the perforate barrel portion is reached, and then only gradually,because the perforations are of small size. The fibrous material ofcourse is held back and cannot escape through these openings, which, ofcourse, are smaller than the fragments of mate-'- rial being treated.That portion of the solid plug within the imperforate portion of thebarrel forms a stopper preventing escape of gas and sudden release ofpressure from the chamber of the cooking vessel, while that portion ofthe plug within the perforate portion of the barrel is open toatmosphere in a limited way through the perforations.

Thus while the material traverses the perforate barrel portion the gaseswithin the material expand or are relieved gradually, but the solid plugwithin the imperforate barrel portion maintains chamber pressure,avoiding, any possible explosive spurts or plug blowouts which hereto-'-fore have accompanied attempts to operate these cookers continuously.The fibrous material reaching the choke passes the same continuously andis discharged into any suitable container ready for use eitherimmediately or after further treatment as an ingredient of stock feed orfor other purposes.

Heating steam for the jacket space H may be supplied by way of pipe 30,the condensate being withdrawn through pipe 31.

While steam may be supplied to chamber i2 through the pipe system [4such a supply is not always necessary. For example material may betreated which initially contains sufiicient moisture, or to whichmoisture is added, before it enters the heating chamber. Upon entranceto said chamber the moisture expands into steam, which serves the samepurpose as steam otherwise introduced through pipes 14, and which isevacuated at the discharge valve mechanism in the same manner beforedescribed.

By the use of the mechanism described meal of any kind, or any othermaterial, may be continuously subjected to cooking under pressurewithout liability of loss of pressure, thus increasing efficiency of theapparatus.

Other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art.

What I claim is:

Material discharge means for a chambered cooking vessel wherein fibrousproteinaceous material is cooked under suitable pressure and temperatureconditions, said discharge means comprising a cylindrical barrel havinga receiving; end and a discharge end, passage means establishingcommunication between said vessel and. the receiving end of said barrel,said barrel having a perforate wall .portion near its discharge end, thewall portion of said barrel near its receiving end being imperforate, ascrew shaft mounted for rotation insaid barrel and extending throughboth portions thereof and provided in each portion with separate,longitudinally spaced worm flights, means for rotating said shaftwhereby to advance said material from the receiving end of said barreltoward the discharge end of.

spurts, plug destruction, and loss of pressure fromthe barrel.

RAYMOND T. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,059,435 Brownlee Nov. 3, 1936-2,203,666 Bonotto June 11, 1940- 2,269,898 Anderson 'Jan. 13, 1 9422,331,910 Holly Oct. 19, 1943 2,355,091 McDonald Aug. 8, 1944*

